Dr Rafael Leal-Arcas to speak at Peking University on the global energy economy

11 September 2012

Dr Rafael Leal-Arcas will speak at the workshop titled The EU and Asian Transnational Policy Networks. The title of his presentation is “The Governance of the Global Energy Economy and its Implications for Global Energy Security,” at Peking University, China.

This two day international workshop is organised within the research project GR:EEN (Global Reordering: Evolution through European Networks). It aims to study the relations between the EU and regional Transnational Policy Networks (TPNs), and Asian TPNs in particular. TPNs are emerging as important elements of trans-state policymaking in the 21st century. In recent years, the ability of NGOs, transnational governance bodies and firms to shape world politics has steadily grown and their study can provide us with an informal-nongovernmental dimension to the debates on the interactions between the EU and other regions in the world.

The conference aims to bring together policy makers and academics mainly working in the fields of energy security and financial stability. These two areas are not only chosen because they form part of the themes of the GR:EEN research project but also because they give two salient and relevant areas to understand the nature, dynamics and influence of TPNs.

Some of the focal issues to consider include:

What are Transnational Policy Networks and what is their role? What are the methods TPNs use in the areas of energy security and financial stability?

What are the relations between the European Union and Asian TPNs?

What are the relationships between initiatives undertaken by TPNs and other cross-border cooperative instruments employed by state and private actors?

How do (Asian) TPNs operate in ways that affect the functioning of the European Union in the areas of energy security and financial stability?

TPNs will not be limited to non-State actors. The networks studied will also look at the workings of government networks including the dynamics within the folds of regulators, law makers and judges that operate and engage across borders.